(Left) Jude Law in Warner Bros. ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.’ (Right) Nicholas Hoult in Fox Searchlight Pictures ‘Tolkien.’
Australian director Justin Kurzel clearly has a thing for true crime stories. And he’s seen success with a few of them, including ‘Nitram’, ‘True History of the Kelly Gang’ and ‘The Snowtown Murders’. He’s back at the based-on-truth track for a new movie called ‘The Order’.
Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult are aboard to star in the film, which Zach Baylin––no stranger to real-life stories himself after writing the Oscar-nominated screenplay for ‘King Richard’––has adapted from Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s book ‘The Silent Brotherhood’.
Here’s the basic pitch for ‘The Order’: In 1983, a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations and armored car heists frightened communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. As baffled law enforcement agents scrambled for answers, a lone FBI agent (Law), stationed in the sleepy, picturesque town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, came to believe the crimes were not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals, but a group of dangerous domestic terrorists, inspired by a radical, charismatic leader (Hoult), plotting a devastating war against the federal government of the United States.
It’s certainly topical and offers fertile ground for drama. Plus both Law and Hoult have long proved themselves capable of this sort of performance. Kurzel intends to start shooting this May in Alberta, Canada.
Both Law and Hoult have been typically busy of late, with Law joining the ‘Star Wars’ televisual galaxy via Jon Watts’ ‘Skeleton Crew’ series about youngsters caught up in the galactic clash. That should arrive on Disney+ this year. There’s also more mysterious drama ‘Black Rabbit’, a drama he’s been developing with Jason Bateman for Netflix, and which also boasts Baylin as one of the writers.
(L-R) Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Jaap Buitendijk. Copyright: © 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
On the movie front, he’ll be Captain Hook for David Lowery’s latest live-action Disney project, ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’, which doesn’t have a release date yet, but we’re eager to see what the director does with the classic tale.
And in stories based on real-life, Law’s playing Henry VIII opposite Alicia Vikander’s Catherine Parr in ‘Firebrand’, which comes from director Karim Aïnouz.
As for Hoult, he was last seen in ‘The Menu’ and has ‘Dracula’-based action comedy ‘Renfield’ (in which he plays the troubled title character looking to break free from the vampire’s employ) due in theaters on April 14th.
Keeping with the vampire theme, he’s also due to star alongside Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgård and Willem Dafoe in Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu’. And he’s also lending his voice to a new animated movie based on the ‘Garfield’ comic strips.
Behind the scenes, the actor has a production company called Dead Duck Films and has been developing a TV series to star in called ‘Wildfire Johnny’. It tells the story of a young man who discovers a discarded straight razor with a note promising whoever possesses this blade will gain access to its particular magic. No word on when that one will be shooting yet.
(L to R) Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult in the film ‘The Menu.’ Photo by Eric Zachanowich. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.